Five Pivotal Ravens Matchups to Watch vs. Saints

New Orleans is set to have their full complement of pass rushers off the edge in this game with the return of eight-time Pro Bowler Cam Jordan from a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the season opener. He'll be joining forces with fellow former Pro Bowler Chase Young and eighth-year veteran Carl Granderson up against what could be a banged-up or reshuffled bookend tackle pairing if two-time Pro Bowl blindside protector Ronnie Stanley is listed as questionable to play with a toe injury.

The fact that Stanley returned to practice on Friday, albeit as a limited participant, and wasn't ruled out or listed as doubtful to play on the final injury report bodes well for the likelihood that he'll be available for the first home game of the year. If he can't suit up, the Ravens will most likely keep third-year pro Roger Rosengarten at right tackle and will have second-year pro Carson Vinson make his first career start at left tackle. The 2025 fifth-rounder spent a good chunk of the offseason running with the first-team offense whenever Stanley was out, but his regular-season experience amounts to just 14 career offensive snaps, half of which came last week as the extra lineman in jumbo packages.

Ravens Inside Linebackers vs. Saints Running Backs

The Saints' offensive backfield will also be at full strength for the first time this season, with five-time Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara slated to make his 2026 debut after missing last week's opener with a knee injury that he was still shaking off the rust from. He'll pair with one of the team's prized free-agent acquisitions from this past offseason, Travis Etienne, to form what they hope will be the next dynamic running back tandem in the Big Easy.

When they travel to Charm City this Sunday, keeping them contained both as ball carriers and pass-catchers coming out of the backfield will be the primary duty of four-time Pro Bowl veteran Roquan Smith and fourth-year pro Trenton Simpson. Both players are coming off strong Week 1 performances in which they combined to make 15 total tackles, including two of a loss and didn't let the Colts' star running back Johnathan Taylor run wild and take over that game.

WR Rashod Bateman vs. CB Kool-Aid McKinstry

With Flowers unlikely to be available in this game after being listed as doubtful to play with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the second half of the season opener and the first two days of practice this week, the mantle of No. 1 receiver in the Ravens' offense falls to the sixth-year veteran. After having his lone reception in the opener negated by a penalty, expect offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to try to get Bateman involved early and often in this one.

“My guy is actually going to get a lot more targets, I believe, with guys going down,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said. "He’s gonna get an opportunity like he always does and he’s going to excel like he’s always been; Batman.”

This means that the former first-rounder will be shadowed or at least see a lot of the Saints' third-year pro, who started every game for them dating back to last season. Bateman will line up at multiple spots, so they might not always be lined up against each other, but when they are, it could be in some key situations.

Ravens Pass Rush vs. Saints Offensive Line

Sack totals fall well short of telling the full story of just how potent and disruptive the Ravens were in their season opener. While they only sacked Colts quarterback Daniel Jones twice, he was the most pressured quarterback in the league in Week 1 and was hit nine times. On Sunday, they'll be going up against a Saints blocking unit that allowed second-year signal caller Tyler Shough to get sacked five times, two of which resulted in fumbles and also get hit nine times.

This could serve as a homecoming of sorts for four-time Pro Bowler Trey Hendrickson (questionable), who led the Ravens with eight pressures last week and is on the hunt for his first sack of the season against the team that originally drafted him in the third round out of Florida Atlantic in 2017. The Saints gave up sacks to players from all three levels last week, and the same could and likely will come to pass in this game with all the creative pressure looks Minter will dial up to confuse and confound the young quarterback.